Africa-Press – Namibia. The Divundu community in the Kavango East region are demanding the removal of the village council’s chief executive, Maghumbo Ndjamba, for allegedly selling community land without their concern or them being compensated.
They are now calling for the total compensation of land lost since 2016.
The aggrieved community members will demonstrate today, to demand the removal of the chief executive, and against the ongoing loss of community land, and the lack of an open door policy by the chief executive’s office to the community.
The concerned community claims their land is being taken without any consultations. Some say they have lost land valued between N$10 000 to N$40 000, while others say they have lost land the size of six sport fields.
The aggrieved communities have also lashed out at Mukwe constituency councillor Damian Maghambayi for failing them.
Community spokesperson Marando Dikuwa yesterday told The Namibian that one of the pieces of land was taken by the former Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2016, and since then, residents have still not been compensated.
“One of the owners of the land is now deceased but the mother is still alive. The other land is where the chairperson’s house is situated and since 2020 up to date, the person never received any benefits,” he said.
He added that they have proof from the chief executive’s office, showing the council directed the person to vacate the land within days.
He also said compensation has not been paid for other land taken from people for road purposes in 2016. “Until this year when the line ministry addressed bilateral independence, that’s when the Divundu Village Council started paying community members who were affected,” Dikuwa said.
He stated they’re tired from meeting and pleading with the council to compensate residents and that their upcoming demonstration will expose the years of suffering residents have endured.
Dikuwa said last year, the council took some community members’ fields without consultation and after finding out, the affected communities went to see Ndjamba.
They were told they will be paid in September 2024. This, they say, never materialised.
“Now the regional council is telling people on different platforms to cancel the demonstration because he does not see the validity of it.
The letter he received was given to someone to drop it on a different WhatsApp group and he came in to read it loudly on the platform,” Dikuwa said. He further stated that Maghambayi went so far as to call other communities, discouraging them from joining the demonstration.
In response to the claims, Maghambayi says the demonstration is aimed at tarnishing the image of the chief executive, an agenda driven by an Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) individual.
“It is a mere character assassination fuelled by one IPC leader whose arguments are irrelevant. They just want to tarnish the name of the chief executive,” he says.
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